In order to explore the extinction characteristics of different types of aerosols and effect of multiple scattering on the transmission performance of visible light, four wavelengths of 400, 488, 550, 694 nm and four common aerosols of oceanic, dust-like, water-soluble and soot are selected. Based on the Mie scattering theory and the steady-state Monte Carlo model, the transmission attenuation characteristics of visible light in atmosphere are studied. The results show that the scattering intensity of single particle decreases with the increase of incident wavelength. The extinction efficiency factors of oceanic, water-soluble and soot particles decrease with the increase of wavelength, whereas dust-like particles have opposite effect. The extinction characteristics of oceanic, dust-like and water-soluble particles are dominated by scattering, while soot particles are dominated by absorption. The results of simulation of multiple scattering by steady-state Monte Carlo method show that the transmission rates of light wave in oceanic aerosols, dust-like aerosols, water-soluble aerosols and soot aerosols decrease in turn. The transmission rate increases gradually with the increase of visibility. The absorption effect can be neglected in multiple scattering processes when the visibility reaches a certain degree. This conclusion is helpful to construct a more accurate image degradation model in a imaging path of specific aerosol optical thick.